Now Commenting On:

Did you know? NLCS Game 7: Giants 9, Cards 0

Did you know? NLCS Game 7: Giants 9, Cards 0

10/22/12: Matt Cain pitches 5 2/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts in the decisive Game 7 showdown against the Cardinals

By Mike Fiammetta and Jake Kaplan
/
MLB.com |

A look at some notable facts and figures from the San Francisco Giants' 9-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series at AT&T Park on Monday night.

 The Giants are just the second team in Major League history to win six consecutive elimination games in the same postseason. The 1985 Royals were the first.

 San Francisco is just the seventh team -- and only the third in the National League -- to win an LCS after trailing 3-1 since the best-of-seven format began in 1985.

 The defending World Series champion Cardinals snapped their six-game winning streak in winner-take-all games, a streak that dated to their 2006 NLCS Game 7 win over the Mets.

 Monday's win was the Giants' first victory in a winner-take-all Game 7 in franchise history. They had been winless in five Game 7s, the most losses without a win in Major League history.

 This will be the Giants' 19th World Series appearance and fifth -- including twice in the last three years -- since they moved to San Francisco in 1958. The Giants and Tigers will be meeting in the World Series for the first time. They haven't played each other since the 2011 regular season, when the Giants took two out of three games in a series at Comerica Park.

 The nine runs the Giants scored in Game 7 are the most the club has scored in a winner-take-all game in franchise postseason history. Their previous high came in Game 5 of the NLDS against the Reds, when the Giants scored six runs.

 Each of the Giants' four wins in this NLCS included an inning in which they scored at least four runs. The 1945 Tigers were the only other team to accomplish that in a postseason series when they did so in the 1945 World Series vs. the Cubs.

 Monday's margin of victory tied the largest postseason shutout in franchise history for the Giants. They also won 9-0 in Game 3 of the 1905 World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics and in Game 2 of the 2010 World Series against the Rangers.

 It was tied for the fourth-largest Game 7 shutout in Major League history. The Braves' 15-0 win over the Cardinals in the 1996 NLCS holds the record.

 Marco Scutaro, who hit .500 (14-for-28) with three doubles and four RBIs in the NLCS, is the Giants' fifth NLCS MVP, joining Jeffrey Leonard (1987), Will Clark (1989), Benito Santiago (2002) and Cody Ross (2010).

 Scutaro is the seventh player in Major League history, and first since Youkilis in the 2007 ALCS, to hit .500 or better in a seven-game postseason series.

 Scutaro's six multi-hit games in the NLCS set a new LCS record. His 10-game hitting streak in a single postseason is the second in Giants history after Ross in 2010.

 San Francisco has won each of its five postseason series since Bruce Bochy became manager.

 Matt Cain is the fourth pitcher to win the All-Star Game and a Game 7 in the same season. Roger Clemens, Sandy Koufax and Paul Derringer also accomplished the feat.

 The Cardinals' 11 all-time Game 7 wins are still the most of any Major League team.

 Pablo Sandoval's streak of five consecutive postseason games with an RBI tied the Giants' record set by Barry Bonds in 2002.

 Cain's second-inning RBI single marked the third straight game in which the Giants' starting pitcher had an RBI. Cain is the first pitcher to have an RBI in a postseason Game 7 since the Cardinals' Jeff Suppan in the 2004 NLCS against the Astros. Cain, Barry Zito and Ryan Vogelsong are the first trio of pitching teammates to contribute an RBI in three straight postseason elimination games in MLB history, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

 Overall, Monday's game was the fifth this postseason in which a pitcher had an RBI, marking just the second time (1958) that has happened.

 Cain is the second pitcher in Major League history to win multiple winner-take-all postseason games in a single postseason. In addition to Game 7, Cain also won Game 5 of the NLDS against the Reds. The Cardinals' Chris Carpenter first accomplished that in 2011.

 St. Louis' Yadier Molina finished the NLCS with 11 hits, giving him 67 career postseason hits. That is second in Cardinals history, trailing only Pujols (88).

 In the Giants' five-run third inning, they sent 11 batters to the plate.

 The Cardinals ended the NLCS with one hit in their last 21 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

 St. Louis used seven pitchers in Game 7, tying an NLCS record. It's been done 10 other times, including by the Cardinals in Game 1 of this series.

 Carlos Beltran's first-inning stolen base made him 11-for-11 in his postseason career, the most of any player to have never been caught.

Mike Fiammetta and Jake Kaplan are associate reporters for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.